The Content Trap by Bharat Anand

Written by a Professor at Harvard Business School, The Content Trap is subtitled “A Strategist’s Guide to Digital Change” and has been praised by thought leaders such as Seth Godin and Daniel Pink. Author Bharat Anand explores various industries, beginning with changes in newspaper and television media, to show how connections are now more important than content.

I was especially drawn to the chapters titled: “Education at a Crossroads” and “Education: What Lies Ahead.” There, Anand writes about the history and various models of online education, frankly describing an online lecture as the same old experience in a new medium.  He wisely points out, “When classroom teaching is at its best, the reason isn’t that it’s in person, but that it focuses on student learning.”  And then continues, 

“To focus on learning, you need to understand learners – their motivations, abilities, incentives and problems.  It’s surprising how easy it can be to ignore these things, and how little attention is usually paid to them.  Create the content, offer the best courses, make them accessible, and the rest will take care of itself: That’s exactly the Content Trap. ... effective learning is not just about content; it’s about purpose.  It’s about students taking ownership of what they need to learn.”

Anand was referring mainly to Higher Education, but I think those are ideas we may explore relative to education at the high school level in future Curriculum Council meetings at our school.  These are important ideas to discuss and act upon.  With respect to online education, Anand says, “we are still closer to the starting point than the finish line” and that certainly also applies to using the digital revolution to support creativity, imagination and courage in K-12 education. The Content Trap by Bharat Anand is lengthy (464 pages), but readers can choose relevant sections or consider pairing this book with selections from Nicholas Carr’s new title, Utopia is Creepy, for example.

Mind Change by Susan Greenfield

Mind Change is subtitled “How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains” and author Lady Greenfield, a neuroscientist and member of the House of Lords, stands up to conventional views.  Much like the early advocates of climate change theories asked about uncertain causality, she proposes that social networks, video games, and surfing the net are all impacting us in unexplored ways. Lady Greenfield asks, for example, whether there might be a direct causal link between screen time and reduction in empathy. Mind Change contains over sixty pages of notes and a list for further reading with two dozen other texts on this subject.

Her chapters on social networks explore the possible implications on identity and relationships while the section on video games deals with potential impact on attention, addiction and aggression.  As an educator reading Mind Change, I appreciated that someone was raising the issue of “profound implications for the Digital Natives and their ability to research information on the Internet, and more widely still for learning in general and thus overall success in life.” I was surprised to see some rather negative reviews from sources such as The Economist and Wall Street Journal. Yes, the evidence cited may be tentative, but at least this book is an attempt to promote discussion. I wish those reviewers had more opportunities to work with young people and see the amount of time they spend with screens, how they struggle to form keyword searches and to make connections between ideas and with each other.  

If you are intrigued by the debates between researchers such as danah boyd (It’s Complicated), Nicholas Carr (The Shallows), Clifford Nass (The Man who Lied to his Laptop), Clay Shirkey (Cognitive Surplus), or Sherry Turkle (Alone Together), pick up Mind Change for another piece in an important and evolving puzzle.

How To ... and then some ...

Our sophomore students write a “how to” essay, dissecting and cataloging the steps to complete an activity like “how to change a tire” or “how to keep your focus as a soccer goalie.” This past week I seem to have been reading several new “how to” books and thought I would briefly comment on each one here. 

How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis   

Ellis, a playwright, describes her take on and affection for various literary characters and writers in How to be a Heroine. My favorite part included her feminist slant and comments about Ellen O’Hara (Scarlett’s mother), but she covers much more, and cites numerous influential characters ranging from the Little Mermaid to Plath’s Esther Greenwood, Lizzy Bennet, Scheherazade, and many more. This memoir (and its copious notes) will appeal to avid readers, English teachers and aspiring writers. The Observer exclaims, “fantastically inspirational memoir that makes you want to re-read far too many books.” Yes, it certainly has that effect and could also provide some short readings for review and discussion in our Senior Writers’ Seminar.  How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis received starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal.

How We Can Save Sports by Ken Reed  

Given the recent amount of attention paid to deflate-gate, NFL concussions and other sports concerns, How We Can Save Sports by Ken Reed is a very timely work.  It begins with a rant, though, in the form of a foreword by consumer activist Ralph Nader.  Reed then proposes a concept of "citizenship through sports activism,” suggests specific action steps and provides resources in an appendix. As a blogger for The Huffington Post and sports policy director for the League of Fans, a sports reform project started by Nader, Reed is an authority on a subject of interest to many of our students. 

The XYZ Factor edited by Nancy Lublin and Alyssa Ruderman
Subtitled “The DoSomething.org Guide to Creating a Culture of Impact,” newly published The XYZ Factor is an exploration of the work environment from the 20-something perspective. All of the authors work together at DoSomething.org, self-described as “the largest membership organization in the world for young people and social change.”  They explain that XYZ is a mindset and the goal of the book is to foster productivity by sharing and describing seven secrets (or traits like “we value choice”) of 20-somethings. If I had to manage several employees in this demographic, the examples (huge choice in TV channels, growth in college majors) and analysis (“constant access to choice leads us to feel bored or stymied”) would certainly be helpful in appreciating their perspective. For example, there is a section called “we move fast” that bemoans too slow decision-making and another on the importance of measureable feedback. Much of the discussion is “spot on,” though perhaps a bit more narcissistic and entitled than the editors intended. The XYZ Factor should prompt some valuable workplace dialogue between all ages.

Words Onscreen by Naomi S. Baron  

Published by Oxford University Press and written by a specialist in Linguistics, Words Onscreen has already sparked interest amongst our faculty. It deals with questions about “the fate of reading in a digital world.” Baron explains recent research and explores differences and preferences between reading hardcopy print and online. Her writing is accessible, although her tone sometimes turns strident as she explores a new normal where "computers, and now portable digital devices, coax us to skim rather than read in depth, search rather than traverse continuous prose.” Baron’s preference towards print is clear, but she raises numerous interesting questions about the act of reading, its varied purposes, its individual vs. social nature, and its relationship with writing. I am looking forward to comparing Words Onscreen with other research on this topic, especially the soon to be released Mind Change by Susan Greenfield.

Meanwhile, like those Sophomore “how to” essays, each of the above books focuses on a specific subject and has appeal for a particular audience – choose the one that best fits your interests!